The UK Civil Justice Council (CJC) has established a dedicated working group to examine how artificial intelligence is being used in the preparation of court documents and whether existing procedural rules require amendments.
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A spokesperson for the CJC confirmed to The Gazette that the terms of reference for the group will be published in the coming weeks, as the judiciary looks to proactively address the evolving role of AI within the legal system.
Lord Justice Colin Birss, deputy head of civil justice, hinted at the initiative during a panel session at last week’s London International Disputes Week, where he participated in a global debate on innovation in court systems. He emphasized that the judiciary must lead the way in deploying AI tools responsibly to enhance efficiency within legal processes.
Birss noted that judges in England and Wales now have access to large-language model AI software on their personal computers. Recent guidance issued to the judiciary has been updated to include AI-specific terminology such as “hallucination” and “AI agent,” alongside practical advice for identifying submissions generated using AI tools.
The panel, which included former Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, flagged the growing concern of fake legal citations—instances where AI tools generate fabricated or non-existent case references. The panel agreed this problem arises primarily from lawyers failing to verify their own work.
“You should be taking personal responsibility for what goes in your name, and that applies whether you’re a judge or a lawyer,” Birss stated. “Lawyers producing documents with hallucinated case references wouldn’t be a problem if they reviewed their own submissions properly. You shouldn’t be putting anything to a court that you’re not prepared to put your name to.”
Birss also highlighted the risk of over-reliance on AI tools without proper oversight. “You can use AI to summarise documents, but you can only do so after reading the material yourself,” he warned. “What you can’t do is skip the reading and depend on AI to tell you what’s in it. That’s crazy.”
He confirmed that the CJC’s working group was launched last month and will explore whether new rules—or revisions to existing ones—are necessary to govern AI’s use in the preparation of court filings. Birss hinted that Practice Directions, particularly those relating to witness statements, may be among the areas ripe for review.
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